Chapter 149

ASHER

As I stood by the window, watching Isabella walk away with Luca in her arms, a knot of guilt twisted in my stomach. She hadn’t said a word to any of us before leaving, but the look in her eyes had been enough—disappointment, hurt, maybe even fear. And it was all my fault.

I turned away from the window, running a hand through my hair as the weight of what we’d done pressed down on me. Kidnapping Dominic, torturing him, and eventually killing him... it had felt necessary at the time, but now, with Isabella avoiding us, I couldn’t stop the flood of regret. I’d convinced myself it was for her, that by getting rid of him, we were protecting her. But maybe I had been wrong. Maybe I’d gone too far.

“I told you this was a bad idea from the start,” Jax’s voice cut through my thoughts, sharp and angry. He stood by the door, arms crossed, glaring at me. “You shouldn’t have gone after him, Asher. This is on you.”

I clenched my jaw, trying to hold back the anger that was bubbling up inside me. The last thing we needed right now was to turn on each other. But Jax had been giving me this look since last night, since Isabella found out. He blamed me, and I couldn’t blame him for that.

“We all agreed,” I said, my voice low, barely containing the frustration. “It wasn’t just my decision.”

“But you’re the one who kidnapped him!” Jax snapped, stepping forward, his eyes blazing with anger. “You’re the one who brought this on us. You didn’t give us a choice, Asher. You dragged us into it, and now look where we are. You’ve made Isabella hate us.”

That hit me harder than I expected. Isabella had been avoiding us since last night, hadn’t looked me in the eyes once, and every time I thought about it, it felt like a knife twisting in my chest. I had done this to her. I had ruined the trust we’d built.

“Jax, calm down,” Knox interjected, stepping between us. His voice was steady, but there was tension in his expression. “This isn’t the time to start pointing fingers. We did what we thought was right.”

Jax shot him a look, shaking his head. “No, Asher did what he thought was right. We went along with it because we’re brothers, but I didn’t sign up for this.”

I could feel the heat rising in my chest, the anger mixing with guilt and self-loathing. “You think I wanted to do this?” I growled, my fists clenching at my sides. “You think I wanted to go that far? I didn’t plan this, Jax. Dominic... Dominic was dangerous. He could’ve hurt her again, maybe even worse.”

“And that’s your excuse?” Jax fired back. “You think what you did to him was any better than what he did to her? You became just like him, Asher.”

I recoiled slightly at his words, feeling the truth in them. I had become like Dominic in those last moments, torturing him, enjoying the power I had over him. And then I had killed him, snuffed out his life like it was nothing. The guilt was suffocating, and Jax’s words only made it worse.

“I couldn’t let him go,” I muttered, more to myself than to them. “I couldn’t risk him coming back for her.”

Knox stepped forward, his hand resting on my shoulder. “You did what you had to do, Ash. We all knew what Dominic was capable of. We couldn’t let him walk away after everything he did to Isa.”

Jax let out a bitter laugh. “And now she might walk away from us. You realize that, right? She might never forgive us for this.”

I closed my eyes, the weight of his words settling over me like a heavy fog. The thought of losing her—of losing the family we had built together—was unbearable. But Jax wasn’t wrong. We had made a decision without her, taken away her choice, and now we were paying the price.

“I know,” I whispered, my voice barely audible. “I know, Jax. But we can’t change what happened. We can only try to make things right.”

Jax shook his head, looking frustrated, defeated. “I just hope it’s not too late.”

We stood there in tense silence, the weight of what we had done hanging over us like a dark cloud. I couldn’t shake the image of Isabella’s face from my mind—the hurt, the disappointment. It gnawed at me, making it hard to think clearly.

Knox, ever the peacemaker, sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “We’ll fix this,” he said, his voice steady and certain. “We’ll talk to her, explain everything. She’ll understand.”

But deep down, I wasn’t so sure. Maybe this was the one thing that she couldn’t forgive. Maybe I had crossed a line that couldn’t be uncrossed. And the thought of that—of losing her—terrified me more than anything else.

I turned back to the window, staring out at the place where Isabella had disappeared from view. My heart ached, and the guilt was almost too much to bear. I had made a terrible mistake, and now I had to live with the consequences.

I just hoped she could find it in her heart to forgive me.